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Thursday, August 18, 2005

Ind. Decisions - More on Court of Appeals Wicca Decision

As reported here in the ILB, the Court of Appeals yesterday ruled on the Wicca issue presented by a Marion County Superior Court ruling. Mike Smith of the AP reports in a story carried in the Louisville Courier Journal:

A judge exceeded his authority by ordering an Indianapolis Wiccan activist and his ex-wife to shield their 9-year-old son from what he called their "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals," the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled yesterday.

The appeals court threw out an order from Marion Superior Court Judge Cale Bradford, citing a state law that gives a custodial parent the authority to determine a child's upbringing -- including religious training -- unless certain exceptions are met. * * *

A court commissioner wrote the unusual order into the couple's divorce decree after a routine report by the court's Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau noted that both Jones and his ex-wife are pagans who send their son, Archer, now 10, to a Catholic elementary school.

The decree said "the parents are directed to take such steps as are needed to shelter (the child) from involvement and observation of these non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." The divorcing parents challenged that section of the decree, but Bradford let it stand.

See also this front-page story today by Michele McNeil in the Indianapolis Star

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 18, 2005 07:52 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions